Janet and I arrived in Jamaica a week ago (as I write this in the middle of Hurricane Beryl) to celebrate our 40th anniversary with our kids and grandkids. We arrived the day after a tropical wave rolled off western Africa and into the Atlantic Ocean. A week later, that wave had become Beryl, a Category 5 hurricane. It was the earliest Cat 5 storm to form in the Atlantic since they began keeping records. It was also the fastest a hurricane has intensified from a barely organized tropical wave to a monster Category 5 storm.
Fortunately, our plan all along had been for the kids and grandkids to fly home from Jamaica the day before Beryl arrived in Jamaica. And for us to head to the north coast of the island and Sandals Montego Bay for the honeymoon portion of our anniversary celebration. We thought it poetic since we spent our original honeymoon at Sandals Montego Bay back in 1984. It turns out to have been the best move we could have made for so many reasons, but that was serendipity rather than smart planning on our part.
The eye of Hurricane Beryl passed just off the southern coast of Jamaica with the full force of its Category 4 winds hitting the entire southern portion of Jamaica. Up north in Montego Bay we escaped with a couple of hours of Category 1 force winds, along with some significantly stronger gusts. There was no serious damage at our resort save for a large bougainvillea tree and a mango tree that were both uprooted. The mango tree fell on the resort’s main gas line and disrupted hot water service, but that has been a minor inconvenience. Fresh water service has also been disrupted but the resort has adequate reserves and has already arranged for more fresh water to be trucked in just in case.
The families of the staff providing us with such excellent service haven’t been so fortunate. Much of Montego Bay…the part where Jamaicans live rather than the part us tourists stay…is without power. A resident told me they expect it to take a month or longer to get power restored. And this was the least of what Jamaican’s have experienced.
Montego Bay’s international airport sustained no damage and reopened at noon today. But over 65% of the island is without power, and wifi and cell service is mostly down. It will be months before the locals can resume anything close to a “normal” life, longer for those in the hard hit south and east. Jamaica’s capital Kingston experienced Category 2 force winds, and a portion of the main airport’s main terminal roof blew off. Eastern Jamaica suffered from heavy flooding, and we still don’t know the extent of damage in southern Jamacia which endured the brunt of the storm. The media is calling this a brushing blow, but by hugging the coast for the entire length of the island, the storm did more widespread damage than if it made landfall and passed over the island.
We picked up quite a few tips from our experience that I’d like to share…some things we did right, some things not so much. Hopefully you’ll find these suggestions useless. And by that, I mean that you’ll never find yourself on a Caribbean vacation in the middle of a hurricane. But if you do…here are some things to consider:
1. Get your forecast information from the National Hurricane Center, not some wanna be meteorologist on social media who claims to know better. They don’t. We stuck with the National Hurricane Center’s information, and it was spot on.
2. If you start to wonder if you should cut your vacation short to avoid having to ride out a hurricane on a Caribbean island, you should. And it may already be too late. It was for us, which is why we spent our honeymoon anniversary confined to our room. On our original honeymoon we chose to confine ourselves to our room…for different reasons.
3. Trip insurance will help you get home once the storm has passed, but it won’t get you out before the storm hits. If you choose to leave ahead of the storm you will have to make the arrangements on your own, and it will be at your expense. You may get reimbursement from your insurance provider after the fact, depending on the details of your policy and your situation, but don’t count on it.
4. If you can’t leave ahead of the storm, the next best thing is to get as far away from the forecasted track as you can. Once the storm hits, stay put until it passes, and local authorities deem travel to be safe.
5. Go to every safety briefing and information update your resort/hotel/property offers. Do what they say…you’re a tourist. You’ve got no business second guessing or defying the local authorities…you’ll only add to their burden if you do.
6. If the information updates don’t cover contingency planning to your satisfaction, keep asking questions until you are satisfied.
7. Keep all of your electronics charged up and limit their use so they stay charged. You never know when you will lose power. We were fortunate that we didn’t lose power, but we kept our electronics charged up in case we did.
8. Anytime you travel it is a good idea to pack a couple of extra USB power packs. They are inexpensive and can give you hours of additional device use if you lose power. We have them and we usually pack them. Not this time. We got lucky and didn’t need them.
9. Keep family and friends informed of your status periodically. As with power, you never know when you will lose internet connectivity. We didn’t…again, we were fortunate. If you do lose connectivity, let them know as soon as you can that you are safe.
10. Stockpile food and water before the storm arrives, within reason. Have enough of both on hand to see you through the storm so you don’t have to leave your place of shelter, but don’t hoard perishable food items. Do you really think you’ll eat a two-day old hamburger that wasn’t kept in a fridge?
11. When the storm arrives, stay wherever the management directs you to be and ride it out…in our case it was in our room. Anytime you go elsewhere you’re not only putting yourself at risk…you’re also putting the resort staff at risk as they are responsible for keeping you safe.
12. Forget about room service. If conditions are so bad you can’t go out, why should you expect the staff to?
13. Go easy on the booze…you never know when an emergency evacuation will be required. Have a drink or two to calm your nerves if you must but save the rest for the after party.
14. Don’t expect compensation from anyone because you lost a day or two (or more) of your vacation to a hurricane. No, it isn’t fair, but it isn’t the resort’s fault any more than it is yours. The resort is giving you the best compensation they can get by being with you on-site during the storm. They are putting your needs ahead of their own and the needs of their families, and you can’t expect any more than that.
15. Next time consider taking a cruise. Cruise ships can avoid hurricanes. Land resorts can’t.
Update: Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport’s website shows the airport reopening at 6PM on July 4. At our afternoon update from the Sandals staff they informed us flights will resume in and out of Montego Bay the morning of July 5.
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